/m/little_league

Reader Comments and Retorts

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"My kid's fastball is clocked at 27 MPH."
"That's wicked. You giving him that injected Advil stuff for the pain?"
"That and cortisone."
"You're lucky man. My kid's with the junior Mets and their doctors just kiss it and tell him it's all better."

My son started playing Travel ball when he was 8. You just play so many more games that you take a huge leap up in skill versus kids with equal athletic ability that don't play tournaments.

Regular Little League season is 18 games over a couple months. In one long weekend tournament you can play seven games, and at 8, 9, 10, and 11 my son was playing maybe nine tournaments a summer. That's 63 extra games a year to refine your skills. And because that core of players stuck together they won a LL state championship at age 11.

Then again, I have seen a lot of pitchers with arm injuries and surgery, and a fair number of kids burn out. My son quit baseball his freshman year of high school, but came back to it after a year and now he's happy playing Varsity and will be doing Travel ball this summer. Though not as many tournaments as before - maybe five or six. And he doesn't play year-round. He's done from Oct-Feb.

This is a pretty good (albeit very long) read. If Bryce Harper was indeed playing over 100 games a year from a very early age, then it's no wonder he's the gifted player he is today. You just can't replicate those hours of game experience and practice in Little League and High School.